A most humble attempt to experiment with writing without having the proper credentials or technique by expressing thoughts and ideas, opinions, views, conspiracy theories and whatever else comes to mind.

September 21, 2012

A Morning Hike

And just like that.. She's back :)

Once more, I must apologize for not having written in such a long time. A week after I got back to Barcelona from my last little adventure in England, I got on yet another flight to go home to Dominican Republic, where I spent nearly two months surrounded by dear loved ones. It was quite challenging to write while I was there. The difficulty having less to do with finding the time, and more with actually being able to focus on it, or anything at all for that matter. As for the last two months, I've been profoundly busy planning my next moves and making some critically important decisions. Excuses? Yup, probably.

But I'm here now and have a lot to share with you all. I will get into it soon enough, but before I do and since most of you already know that I'm in Mallorca, I'd like to tell you about a most exciting little adventure I had this morning.

I haven't been able to sleep much in the past couple of months. During certain periods in my life, and these come and go from time to time, my mind is so congested with thoughts that sleeping is just not an option unfortunately. Normally what keeps me up at night is stress caused by daily predicaments and then of course, the habitual and ever-present existencial concerns. But this particular episode has been surprisingly different. These days, it is mainly excitement that keeps my brain in overdrive. Much going on, plenty to do, and as usual, so little time. No matter how late I go to bed, I manage to be up and about just a few hours later; Doing, thinking, calling, planning, reading. It is during these times more than ever, that I secretly wish there were more than 24 hours in the day.

So I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning with one very special purpose. The other day while cycling into the nearby town of Pollença, I noticed a sign by the road that pointed to an organic farm shop. You all know how much I love my organic free-range eggs, whenever possible straight out of the hen's ass and into my kitchen. And so, I set off on some sort of a quest to buy a dozen eggs from this local shop. It would have been quicker to take the bicycle but I thought why not go for a nice walk instead. Turned out to be an undoubtedly long one but in the end, every minute of it was worth the effort.

It took me about one and a half hours to get there. Apart from a couple of cars, the odd truck and a few enthusiastic cyclists, I had the road pretty much to myself, which gave me the opportunity to fully appreciate the exquisite surroundings. I felt a bit like a Chinese tourist in New York City with camera in hand, except I was taking pictures of orange groves, olive trees and stray sheep.

It happens more often than not these days, that I suddenly realize I'm smiling like a five-year old in a candy shop, sometimes for no apparent reason at all. On this particular occasion though, as it turned out, I had plenty to be blissful about. And in this brief moment, utterly and completely captivated by the grandiosity of nature, just little ol' me and the empty road ahead, I realized what life is all about, and for me, that was precisely it. At least in that very moment, which then was “now”. A most inexplicable and overwhelming feeling of gratitude took over my entire being and brought tears to my eyes. Not once or twice, but actually a few times during the walk. I've been having that feeling a lot in the past couple of years but even more so during the last one. My grandfather once said to me that when one begins to develop this virtue called “gratitude” it probably means that they are somewhat advanced in their spiritual journey and personal development process. This must be confirmation, I hope, that I am, at worse, on the right path.

Once I arrived at the shop, it all went pretty damn quick. There were barely a dozen eggs left and they were tiny, but I took them all anyway. I started my walk back home and not five minutes had passed when I saw a car approaching from behind me. I didn't even think about it twice and put my thumb out. A very nice German gentleman by the name of Gabriel, who turned out to be the owner of the agriturismo next door (Can Guillo), brought me all the way back, even though I insisted it was not necessary since we passed his place on the way to mine. It was amazing to see how much two people can talk about in such a short period of time. He gave me his son's number who runs the agriturismo and I promised to call tomorrow so that I can arrange a visit over there. Pretty much my first hitchhiking experience and considering where I am and the fact that I do not plan to buy a car anytime soon, it will probably not be my last. Yes father, I promise to be careful.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the excursion taken with my shitty camera, and so, they only do a half decent job in capturing the majestic scenery I was able and grateful to experience with my very own eyes.